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Friday, December 19, 2014

Howie's Steak and Gorgonzola Bruschetta

Today marks the 50th post and 1 year anniversary of No Place Like (O)Home! I can't believe that all this time has passed! When I think about the fact that I finished my capstone studio, graduated with my Master of Architecture, started my first adult job, traveled to Chicago (twice!), New York, Boston, Portland, Seattle, Williamsburg, Oxford, and Buffalo AND cooked all these recipes and many more that I didn't write about...well, it definitely seems like it's been a jam-packed year. Rather than dedicating this celebratory post to a special recipe, I'm going to dedicate it to a special person: my awesome boyfriend, Howie. Not only was he the person that pushed me to turn my cookbook into a blog, but he's been my biggest fan the entire journey. I can always count on him to try anything and everything that I concoct, ask me a million questions while I cook to test my professional expertise, and even create impromptu chopped challenges in his kitchen when he's missing ingredients we need. Last week, he surprised me and cooked an incredible meal all on his own after I had a lousy day, and it's seriously one of the best recipes on this blog! He made steak and gorgonzola bruschetta on toasted ciabatta bread! Howie, looks like you're officially upgraded from chopping garlic!

He started by seasoning 2 ribeye steaks generously with salt and pepper on both sides, and then rubbed them with olive oil. A huge steak was just what I needed after a long day!

He then put a dash of olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat, and cooked the steak for 4 minutes on the first side, then flipped it and cooked the other side for another 4 minutes over medium heat.

While the steak was cooking, he sliced 2 ciabatta rolls in half to toast later...mmmmm ciabatta bread is one of my favorites!

But seriously how perfect does the steak look? Once the first steak was done, he let it rest on a plate while the second steak cooked. Resting the steak locks all those delicious juices inside the steak rather than dripping out right when you cut into it! With the 4 minutes on each side, the steak was medium rare, which Howie prefers. I, however, cannot eat steak with that much pink inside, so I put mine in a 400° F oven for an extra 5-10 minutes so it was more like medium/medium-well. Customize it to how you like it!

This might be the most sinfully delicious parts of the recipe...lay the ciabatta bread cut side down in the steak juice and toast over medium-low heat for 2 minutes. It soaks up all the juice and gets golden brown and crunchy!

Spread a little Dijon mustard on the toasted ciabatta and top with a layer of watercress, or really any kind of lettuce that you have on hand. Love the pop of color!

Then, top with the steak, a sprinkle of crumbled Gorgonzola and a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette. I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have landed a guy that can make me this!!!